A Simple Heist

Even with leather wrappings covering her head and body, the relentless assault of the storm's dust and sand felt like a thousand little needles stabbing every piece of Sarah's skin. The high wind pushed against her, striving to steer her off course. Instinct and practice kept her footsteps moving in a direct line, the path having been meticulously plotted before she exited her ship. Clenching her teeth, she pulled a leather wrapped bundle closer to her chest.

"This better be the right place, Darby," she growled.

Through a veil of static a slightly metallic voice crackled in her ear, "Oh, this is it, no question."

"You're sure the ship is secured?"

A short bark of laughter was followed by, "That's a joke, right? And yes, that was an expertly maneuvered blind landing in the middle of a raging sand storm. You're very welcome, as always."

Sarah snorted a reply as a new wind gust threatened to shover her off course.

"You're almost there," came Darby's crackly voice. "Five more steps, and the walls around the outer door should cut down on the wind and sand."

Darby's calculation was correct, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief when the needling sensation across her skin was only against her back. Reaching up, she tugged down the leather wrappings just enough to see. In front of her was a large iron door. A short metal canopy that wrapped down to the ground shielded her from the worst of the wind. A forgotten childhood memory bubbled to the surface. She was huddling with her cousin at the front of their house in the middle of a blizzard. The door was frozen shut. She could hear the banging from the other side as the adults inside tried to get it open.

"Everything okay?" Darby's metallic voice chirped.

Shaking away the memory, Sarah replied, a bit sharper than she intended, "Yes. Fine."

Scanning the pockmarked surface of the door, she shifted the bundle awkwardly under one arm, while fishing around under her protective leather outer garments for the access card. The codes for the mining bar were rotated regularly, but there was always a grace period to account for delays caused by the frequent sand storms. Darby had assured her that the stolen card would still work.

Removing the piece of silvered metal, she pushed it flat against an indented slot about halfway up on the door. A red ring flashed around the card, and went dark.

"Darby?" Sarah muttered, a touch of anxiousness bleeding into her tone.

"Give it a minute," came the calm reply.

Sarah groaned as a gust of wind pushed against her back. Bits of sand scratching the insides of her mouth, she braced herself against the sides of the entrance, and kept her eyes fixed on the card. With a loud clang a green light spun around the card. A blast of air pushed away the dust from the edges of the door, and it swung inward a few inches.

"See, what'd I tell you."

Ignoring the comment, she removed the card, and returned it to the small pouch nestled under the leather wrappings before pushing the door open far enough to squeeze through. Once inside, the door closed itself, and she sound of industrial strength vacuums roared, sucking the majority of the dust out of what looked like a refurbished air lock. As the fans spun down, a red light above the inner door clicked green, and it swung open into a haze filled room.

Stepping inside, Sarah pulled away the rest of the leather wrappings from her head. Bits of trapped dust blended into the already thick air. A stringent oily odor coated her mouth and throat, forcing a grimace. The dust and ancient lighting gave everything a desaturated yellow pallor.

While the room was mostly empty, her training had kicked in automatically, instantly sizing up the clutch of four miners huddled around a table to her right. Then there was the barkeep, who stood with his back to her behind a massive piece of metal that looked like it had been salvaged from a cargo ship, before being beaten into something resembling a bar. Every scrap of metal in the place was covered with a thick layer of rust, and the seats cantilevered out from the makeshift bar looked like they might disintegrate at the softest touch, though she suspected they were much stronger than they appeared.

One of the miners at the far table let out a low whistle, grabbing the barkeep's attention. Turning around, his stoney expression barely registered surprise as he stared at her. She returned his stare, and gave a slight nod towards a small table away from the group of miners.

Stepping over to a rickety looking chair, she dropped her bundle next to it with a soft thud, and sat down. The barkeep watched, his face expressionless. Keeping eye contact with him, Sarah slowly eased her gloved hand under her leather wrappings, and removed a shiny metal coin. Holding it up in the air for a moment, she placed it gently on the table, sliding it in the direction of the barkeep. He gave the faintest of nods, and began to prepare a drink as the miners at the far table whispered amongst themselves.

"I don't see anything that looks like a vault in here, Darby," she said under her breath.

"To the left of the bar is a false panel. Scanning it now."

The barkeep, carrying a large pitcher of dirty green liquid walked around the side of the bar. The metal legs that were fused to the bottom of his body clanked as he approached. When he arrived at her table, he thumped the pitcher down, causing some of the liquid to slosh over the top, and onto the table. There were chitters of laughter from the clutch of miners as he picked up the coin.

"Don't get many offworlders around here," he growled. "'Specially not during storm season."

Sarah shifted her position, rolling her shoulder to partially reveal the ornate hilt of a sword strapped to her back. The barkeep's eyes went wide at the sight of the filigreed pattern. Looking back at the coin, he mumbled something unintelligible, and made his way back to the bar. Glancing over at the other table, Sarah covered up the hilt before turning her attention to the pitcher. Watching the dark greasy particulates slide down the inside of the glass caused her stomach to clench.

"Okay, ummm, this might be a little more complicated than we thought. That isn't a standard vault door. It doesn't match anything in my records. This place isn't just a stash location, not with tech like this. I might be able to crack it given enough time."

"We don't have time. How long before the storm window?"

"Hard to say precisely. Soon, though."

"Damn. Plan B then," Sarah grumbled.

"Aye Cap'n," Darby replied into her earpiece.

"Ready?" Sarah asked as she slid one hand to the edge of the table, grasping it tight.

"Not really, but..."

Before he could finish, in one fluid motion, Sarah stood up and flipped the table into the air towards the center of the room. Reaching down, she grabbed a loose end of the leather bundle, and gave it a hard pull. The coverings fell away, revealing a small dog with what looked like a shiny black patch of dimpled glass covering one eye. The sound of blasters from the bar's auto defense system erupted as the table disintegrated in midair, splashing the greasy contents of the pitcher against the ceiling.

Looking down at the dog, Sarah said, "Don't let him get send an alarm."

"On it," Darby replied.

Scampering across the floor, thin wire tendrils spooling out from his eye patch, Darby jumped onto the bar. Three of the extruded wires wrapped around the barkeep, immobilizing him. A fourth poked around behind the bar, searching for a control panel. The four miners were on their feet. Darby turned towards them, revealing sharp white teeth and growled. The men laughed, and advanced, brandishing weapons.

Sarah, ignoring all of them, stepped to the false panel, unsheathing her sword as she went. The blade was long and black, covered in silvered patterns. Along its edges a faint blue light shimmered, crackling in the air. Once in front of the panel she pressed the tip of the blade against the surface, and pushed. Sparks erupted as the metal beneath screamed, blending in with the tortured cries of the miners.

Sarah moved the blade down, sweat beading up across her forehead, until there was a loud crack, and the entire panel jumped out towards her on silent hinges. Returning it to its sheath, she glanced towards the bar. Darby was sitting, his tongue hanging out one side of his mouth. The thin wires connected to the patch over his eye were still wrapped around the barkeep. The fourth was nowhere to be seen. On the floor, just in front of the bar, were the motionless bodies of the four miners, their blood combining into a wide pool of crimson.

"The alarm system is disabled," Darby said. "Oh, and sorry about the mess. They didn't leave me much choice. You might want to hurry up, by the way. The storm window's almost here, and it's going to pass over fast."

"Damn," Sarah muttered, and pulled open the vault door, its side still hot from her blade.

Stepping inside, she pulled back the leather covering from her forearm. Covering her forearm was a tight fitting gauntlet. It was almost black in color, its surface covered with a pattern of small alternately shaded hexagons. Tapping the center, a bright screen of light sprung into view. As she tapped, the screen filled with information before settling on a ten digit number. With another tap the screen vanished, and she scanned the codes on the boxes that lined the vault's walls until she found the one with the matching number. Yanking it out, she flipped open the top. Inside was a small rectangular gold colored card. Removing it, she secreted it into the pouch at her waist, replaced the box, and returned to the main room.

Walking up to the bar, she stood in front of the immobilized barkeep, who was doing his very best to avoid her gaze. A swift slapping of her palm on the top of the bar grabbed his attention.

"I ... I ..." He began to stammer.

Sarah held her finger up to her lips.

"It's okay. You will call the authorities. You will say that a group of offworlders tried to rob your vault. Thanks to these ... patrons," she gestured towards the bodies of the slain miners, "they didn't make off with anything of value. Correct?"

The barkeep nodded emphatically.

"Repeat it back to me."

He did so. Sarah reached into her pouch, and put a stack of coins on the bar.

"This is for your trouble. The Guild appreciates your support in this matter."

The barkeep began to visibly tremble.

"Darby, let him go. We have what we came for."

The wires entrapping the barkeep retracted silently back into the dimpled glass like eye patch, and he hopped down onto the floor.

Pausing before she closed she inner airlock door, Sarah addressed the barkeep, "You know, they'd still be alive if they hadn't tried to mess with my dog."

"Dog?" The barkeep muttered, a befuddled look on his face.

Once outside, Sarah looked up at the clear sky. To her right there was a darkening wall of brown clouds that stretched from the sky to the ground that was rolling towards them with great speed. The air had a bitter ozone taste to it that stung the back of her throat like she had swallowed something sharp and acidic.

"This is cutting it a little close," Darby said. "Landing in that mess is one thing. There's no way we can take off in it, and I don't know when the next gap will be."

Sarah looked from the oncoming storm down at Darby. With a quick nod they both broke into a fast run towards their ship. Once inside, Darby leapt into the navigation chair. Two wires extended from his ocular unit. One bulged out at the tip, and socketed into the console. The other split into four ends and manipulated a series of buttons and switches.

"You might want to strap in. This is gonna be bumpy," Darby warned.

Taking Darby's advice, she took the seat next to the dog, and fastened the restraining harness as tight as it would go. No sooner had she done so a red alarm appeared on the bright screen just behind the navigation console.

"Darby?"

"Checking ... it's not us. It's ... oh no."

"What is it?" Sarah asked, instinctively leaning towards the console, though her movement was immediately arrested by the taut harness.

"We have company."

Details scrolled down the side of the screen. Sarah skimmed over them. A destroyer class ship had moved into the planet's upper atmosphere, and was directly in the path of their flight trajectory, which was already locked into the navigation system.

"Krassus," Sarah hissed. "How could he have found us. What happened to this ship not being trackable."

More alarms appeared on the screen. The destroyer had armed its weapons, and was locking onto its target.

"It's not! Well, mostly not. Anything is possible, given ... wait a second. We aren't the target."

"What?"

"Hold on!"

A third wire extension appeared, and began to rapidly tap at another section of the console. A viewport window appeared on the screen. On it was centered the mining bar. A loud boom shook the entire ship. Sarah tightened her jaw to keep her teeth from rattling as the suffocating pressure of multiple g-forces pushed her deeper into her seat. Darby had jump started the engines, and they were rocketing upwards, directly towards the destroyer.

"Daaaarby!" Sarah groaned through clenched teeth.

On the screen three bright lights raced down through the sky, trailing dark exhaust. They converged upon the mining bar. The console image fuzzed out after a brief flash of burning white incandescence. A moment later the ship jolted hard to the right. Darby's wire appendages were flying across the console. Sarah heard the telltale sounds of metal being stressed to its limits before being sheared apart. Gradually the ship pulled back to the left, aligning again to its original trajectory. The destroyer had not moved, and was still in their direct path.

"Come on, come on, come on, get moving. You did what you came here to do," Darby muttered.

"If we get too much closer they won't need their scanners to see us."

"I know, I know."

The flashing alarm on the screen shifted from red to orange. The icon representing the destroyer turned, and began to move out of the planets atmosphere. Its jump engines kicked in, and both the icon and alarm vanished. Moments later their own ship exited the planet's atmosphere, and the pressure pushing Sarah back into her seat relaxed.

Releasing the harness, Sarah took a deep breath. Darby punched in the coordinates to their next destination, and looked over at Sarah expectantly. She gave a small grin, as he looked like he was expecting a bite sized treat for being such a good dog.

"Well, let's see it!" He barked.

Sarah removed the gold card from her pouch. Looking it over, she said, "I guess that's about as good a confirmation of its authenticity as we can get."

"Indeed!"

"You want to get started on cracking it open?"

"Of course!"

A thin wire snaked from Darby's ocular patch, and plucked the card from Sarah's hand. As she watched him trot out of the room, her smile faded. If Krassus already knew the location of the fragment, he wouldn't need the card, though he had somehow found out about its location in the mining bar's vault. They were likely walking right into a trap.

"What else is new," Sarah muttered as she leaned back into her seat, and watched information scroll across the navigation console.